Zal Batmanglij isn’t a newcomer, at least not really, but he has yet to do much more than the few things that have gotten him the kind of attention he needs to keep a career and hopefully watch it rise. So far what he’s done has impressed enough people that it’s been deemed that he’ll be sticking around so that he can bring his visions to the screen again and again. At this time a lot of people probably don’t know who he is, but that’s fairly natural since folks tend to focus more on the people that are onscreen rather than those who are behind it. Great directors, producers, and others that work behind the scenes tend to get noticed a lot, but until they reach that certain level of notoriety it can be assumed that they’ll need more and more information to be spread around the internet and by word of mouth to really benefit from the growing reputation that’s required to make a career into something special. Zal is definitely doing everything right at this point as he’s making inroads towards showing those that he needs to show that he is a skilled writer and director. That in itself is a big step towards establishing himself as one of the more skilled individuals behind the camera and a legend in the making.
With that being said, here are a few things you probably didn’t know about him.
10. At one point in his life he hopped trains and hung out with anarchists.
He and a friend had virtually nothing, not even a penny to their name, when they decided to start hopping from train to train and decided to hang out with a group of anarchists. This gave them a rather interesting and unique perspective on life that would eventually shape the course that Zal took with his career.
9. His mother is a cookbook author.
Based on the fact that she wrote cookbooks one would assume that she was a good cook too. It most likely helped that her husband, Zal’s father, is a book publisher and would have contacts that she could use if he couldn’t publish her books with his company. It almost seems like it would be a conflict of interest, but maybe not.
8. He worked at a shampoo company after college.
How many people can actually say this? Obviously there’s bound to be just as many different positions at a shampoo factor as there would be at any other place of employment, but it’s still so seemingly random that you can’t help but look at it twice. Hopefully they paid well.
7. He loves being part of a gay family.
He and his brother are both gay and their parents support them and have been a tightly knit family for many years. He’s described his family as being very caring and open with each other, which helps to promote a very safe and nurturing environment. This could be why he looks like such a happy guy, his parents did something right and taught him how to ignore the world’s biases.
6. He’s a big believer in DIY.
Do it yourself projects and even the lifestyle are things that seem to be struggling to stick around in this day and age as everyone wants everything done for them. DIY is a virtue at this point that is still preserved by those that happen to have the right ambition and desire to take care of things on their own.
5. He never brings a storyboard to the set of his movies.
He’ll work with a storyboard during collaborations and meetings but he leaves it behind when he’s on set. This seems like a personal preference rather than a common practice but it also seems that he doesn’t need it when he’s directing.
4. His filmography isn’t that big at this time.
Sometimes it takes a while to see a vision come to fruition when directing and even writing. It could be that Zal is simply being fastidious about the projects he takes on and wants to make sure that everything is given the attention it needs to appear professional and well done.
3. He started his career in 2011.
So he hasn’t been around forever but he has been on the scene long enough to pick up his own style and run with it. Hopefully he’ll continue to do so as the years wear on.
2. He’s a film director and a screenwriter.
This is the kind of DIY spirit that extends to Hollywood since while you see this combination in one person more often than you think it’s a boon that allows a director to be more than just a mouthpiece on the set.
1. His brother started the band Vampire Weekend.
The band his brother helped to start might not be very well known yet but they were signed to Columbia Records, so it could be just a matter of time until they hit it big.
He’s a lot more interesting when you really start to understand a few things about him.
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